Greening of Las Vegas?
April 24, 2007 | 2:51
pm
Megaresorts in Las Vegas by their very nature are wasteful things. Why
would you build something like Mandalay Bay or Bellagio in a desert where all
of the building materials (not to mention the fish and other fresh food on the
menus at all of those fancy restaurants in the finished resorts) has to be
imported?
Yet, the arrival of Earth Day on Sunday caused me to wonder if there has
been any greening trend in Las Vegas. Gathering any information in Las Vegas
takes time. So, far I have heard back from contacts at MGM-Mirage and am waiting
to hear back from Harrah's and Wynn. From what I learned at MGM so far (more
coming), particularly for the massive currently being built, Project City
Center, (billed as the most expensive private construction effort ever) the
resorts have been putting far more thought into this issue than I
expected.
MGM-Mirage is actually pursing a LEED
certification for Project CityCenter and has the Strip's only water recycling
plant at TI, which processes 100,000 gallons of gray water from TI and The
Mirage daily. The recycled water is then used in the Sirens Cove at TI, at the
Volcano at The Mirage, and for landscaping purposes. Also, the company just
converted a bunch of its parking decks at various hotels to low diode-emitting
lights, for what I am told, is a tremendous amount of energy saving.
This
may not seem like a lot to you in LA but in Las Vegas recycling is still not
commonly practiced among citizens (myself included), and it is interesting to
see that MGM-Mirage's basic approach in that sense is more environmentally aware
than much of the community here.
(Photo by Sarah Gerke)
(Photo by Sarah Gerke)
